MovieChat Forums > Death of a Salesman (1985) Discussion > Malkovich was a horrible choice for this...

Malkovich was a horrible choice for this production due to his age


Malkovich was a horrible choice for this production due to his age.

On a basic visual level, every single scene in this film in which Malkovich has to play a teenager is flagrantly absurd. As such, remaining immersed in the story becomes impossible.

Some actors who look way younger than their actual ages can play teenagers when they are in their thirties, but Malkovich is not one of them. He looks older than his actual age.

They should have done a much better job with casting the sons for this production. They needed actors who could convincingly play all of the different ages that their characters appear as in various scenes.

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Ok if you go do a production of "death of a salesman" and play Biff Loman better then John Malkovich, not tell me you can show me you can, then you can bash him all you like.

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I think that Malkovich gave one of his better performances here, but you're right in that he wasn't credible as a teenager in the flashback scenes. Perhaps they should have cast Malkovich (and Lang) only as the 30-something Biff and Happy, while using different, younger actors to portray them as teenagers.

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